Search for a Star & Sumo Digital Rising Star VFX challenge

We’re looking for top-notch VFX artists who can stun us with their creations!

Last year we launched the VFX branch of Search for a Star and Sumo Digital Rising Star, and this year we’re aiming for bigger, better and flashier! We set up the game VFX strand of the challenge because the industry is crying out for more talented artists like yourself. We want to highlight your skills to the industry and help keep the UK at the forefront of innovation in games development. Search for a Star can take you to great places, like last year’s VFX winner Niels Dewitte, who went onto work at leading VR games studio nDreams!

As with all the challenge strands, VFX is split up into three components:

The Skills Challenge

We’ll ask you to submit one piece of work, created in the last 12 months, which you feel best showcases your skills and overall abilities. Alongside this, we’ll ask for a 250-word explanation of how the final piece came to be and how your idea evolved along the way.

Your work will then be sent to a number of industry professionals for review who will assess your submission on the following four criteria:

Background, research, preparation

Creativity, emotion, expression

Technical skill, accuracy & technique

Presentation, aesthetics & post production

You’ll receive tailored feedback from professionals who have years’ of experience in the field. They’ll let you know what you did well and what you could maybe improve upon, and how you can do that!

The Dev Challenge

We’re happy to announce that any student who registers this year will be able to take part in both the Skills and Dev Challenge! This is where things get really interesting. Our panel of expert VFX artists will present you with a brief for you to work on which mimics the kind of tests you’d be asked to do when applying for a job in industry. Once again, you’ll receive tailored industry feedback to help you grow your craft.

Our 2018 brief is still under construction at the moment, but to give you an idea of what last year’s VFX artists got up to, take a look at our 2017 submissions and our 2017 winner VFX winner, Niels Dewitte:

The Interview

When the previous two stages close, our judges will begin adding up the scores. Three contestants from Search for a Star VFX and Sumo Digital Rising Star VFX will then be invited to an interview panel in front of VFX professionals from leading UK studios at our famous Finals Day Showcase event!

They’ll want to know all about your submissions, technical knowledge and motivations. What makes you tick as a VFX artist – that kind of stuff. You’ll then be free to enjoy the rest of the day, attend the industry presentations and mingle with other contestants and UK studios who travel from all over the country to meet students like you!

A winner from each strand will be picked and will receive a number of prizes donated from industry alongside the most coveted interview for a job (for Search for a Star winners) or internship (for Sumo Digital Rising Star winners).